Insulted Hungary won’t stop criticizing EU

The chief spokesman for Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister, said Monday that his boss will not ease up his criticism of the EU, despite pointed calls for greater unity by senior leaders including European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“Why should we?” the spokesman, Zoltán Kovács, said in an interview after a briefing at the Hungarian mission to the EU in Brussels. “Has the Commission started to act conciliatory?”

The remarks by Kovács underscore how senior EU leaders have failed to quell the internal discord that they fear is contributing to deepening Euroskepticism and public mistrust of European institutions across the Continent, particularly after Britain’s vote to leave the bloc.

An informal summit in Bratislava Friday was intended to build cohesion and trust among the 27 EU leaders. But while they reached an agreement on a tightly-focused agenda for the next several months, Orbán before leaving the event had reiterated his sharp criticism of EU immigration policy.

The briefing by Kovács was focused on an October 2 public referendum in which Hungarian voters are widely expected to reject the EU’s plan for mandatoryrelocation of refugees across Europe under a quota system. Hungary has already filed a lawsuit against the planned quota system in the European Court of Justice.

Hungary’s approach to the migrant crisis, including plans to build a second border fence, has drawn scathing criticism from some EU leaders — criticism that Kovács said was unfair and unjustified.

Last week, Luxembourg’s foreign affairs minister, Jean Asselborn, said that Hungary should be kicked out of the EU because it had treated migrants almost like “wild animals” including by building a border fence. Xavier Bettel, the prime minister of Luxembourg, later disavowed the comment, saying it did not represent the country’s official position.

In a lengthy and impassioned defense of Hungary’s anti-establishment perspective, Kovács said that Hungary was accustomed to such attacks.

“We have always been, you know, called anti-European or non-European or threatened with being expelled from the community, but that’s nonsense,” Kovács said, listing actions taken by Hungary that had prompted criticism, including the adoption of a new media law, enactment of a new constitution, and the implementation of an economic reform plan.

“When are you going to stop that argumentation, that’s my first question,” Kovács said. “Wouldn’t it be time to listen to Central European countries, including Hungary?”

At the briefing, he also said that Hungary had lost its trust in senior EU officials and would not believe any assertions of a change in migrant policy until formal action is taken. During the summer, and in a speech last week in the European Parliament, Juncker hinted at possible changes in migration policy, where member states could express solidarity in other forms rather than simply taking in refugees.

“Why should we believe them when they cheated us last year twice?” Kovács asked.

As for the referendum, he said it would send a powerful message to Brussels: “It’s going to be a big deal.”

WordsVsActions

One shouldn’t form one’s oppinion about the Hungarian government’s “unorthodox policies” by just listening to the constant flow of words (by the likes as Kovács), but rather by the actions taken. Those actions do speak for themselves…

I doubt if people really care, how a small number of voters in the Carpathian Basin will vote about either accepting or not accepting a relativly tiny number of refugees. Most will just see it as a sign of homophobia and selfishness.

As the result of the upcoming “Referendum” has no legal implications, it can’t be taken serious in any other way then it already having caused further damage to the international reputation of Hungary.

Posted on 9/19/16 | 11:18 PM CET

Luci

@WordsVsActions
I don’t think one should form one’s opinion about others opinions based solely on your own opinion and agenda. Ignoring the concerns that people have and labelling them as “homophobic”, let’s assume you meant xenophobic, turns an issue into problem into a disaster. You will have to listen to them at some point. In my experience it’s best to do it early in the conversation while a mutually acceptable compromise is still possible.

I not homophobic 🙂

Posted on 9/20/16 | 12:05 AM CET

UncertainFuture

homophobia, xenophobia, islamophobia… whatever…

Unfortunately Hungarian history is full of dumb political decisions already leading to a national tragedy: just remember the “Magyarisation” policies against ethnic minorities… consequently leading to the Treaty of Trianon, with Hungary losing most of it’s previous territory. 🙁

If Mr. Kovács and others in Budapest now continue on their dead end path of further international isolation, it won’t be long and the future territory of the country might be reduced to just… “Felcsut municipality”… including Orbán’s new soccer arena and cute narrow gauge railway of course.

Posted on 9/20/16 | 4:54 AM CET

Pooolish guuuy

re:Nick the Greek
STFU…You are not even a Greek..You are shyster living in US..
You have no right to talk about our European problems…

Posted on 9/20/16 | 6:14 AM CET

Ranger

@WordsVsActions
The referendum may provide a basis for legal changes. Anyway , the law is a very malleable thing, constantly changing and hard to describe it. Anything can happen, we will see.

Posted on 9/20/16 | 8:28 AM CET

Johann M. Wolff

@WordsVsActions

I doubt that the vote is about the number of migrants but about the principle of distribution without the agreement of the national parliaments. And I’m glad that Hungary does it. Merkel is already punished by voters all over Germany.

Obviously that is just cheap populism to accuse the V4 that they resistance to the migrant distribution mechanism is deepening the crisis. It doesn’t take much common sense to figure it out that migrants sent to Romania or Bulgaria will come to Germany within days. And how will our wise politicians keep them in Romania ? Chaining them there ? Shooting orders ?

Nick the Schmuck

LOL, Nick the Schmuck and the gallery of other leftards and leftard trolls at large. What a surprise

Posted on 9/20/16 | 4:40 PM CET

jb

Orban is obviously brighter than all of euroclowns put together.
That’s also a reason for their envy.

Posted on 9/20/16 | 8:30 PM CET

Laughing out loud

Hungary + Poland: The revolt of the EU welfare recipients.

Hilarious! We should cut their rations and see how they’ll like that. LOL

Posted on 9/20/16 | 9:37 PM CET

jb

@Laughing out loud
Kick out of the EU also Bavaria (and Austria soon) for their “racist/xenophobic” attitude:
“Last week, the CSU released a paper, called “Germany Must Remain Germany,” outlining steps it would like to see taken, including the abolishment of dual citizenship and a preference for migrants from the “Christian-Western culture.”
UK, Visegrad countries, Bavaria, Austria – not a bad company. Others would join soon certainly.

Posted on 9/20/16 | 11:23 PM CET

Guilherme

Loughing ou load:
compare those welfare receipts with extraprofits of the western companies which pays 1/3 of the western salaries in these contries. What will be the saldo?